The path leading to Ezhadippattam
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The Ezhadippattam is the name given to a natural cavern where over more
than a thousand years since 3rd century BC, Jain ascetics practiced severest
penance.
Ezhadippattam- natural cavern
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The cavern is near the top of the centre of the hill and on its eastern
side, but accessible only from the west. In the past the only approach to
the cavern was over the top and along a narrow ledge in which seven
precarious footholds (hence the name, ‘Ezhu-adi’ (ஏழு அடி) meaning ‘seven
steps’) are cut in the rock. Proper steps have now been cut, and an iron
railing provided.
The cavern is roomy but low. The floor is marked out into spaces for
seventeen beds, each with a sort of stone pillow. One of them, which is the
largest, is perhaps the oldest since it contains an inscription in the Asoka
Brahmi script but in the Tamil language of the 3rd or 2nd century B. C. This
is one of the oldest lithic records of South India.
The bed in which Tamil with Tamil-Brahmi is inscribed
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The inscription is believed to be a record of the bed made for the use of
a Jain ascetic belonging to a place in the Present Vellore district by one
Ilaiyar (இளையர்) of Sittannavasal.
By the other beds names of Jain ascetics who resorted to this cavern and
practiced the severest form of penance are inscribed in old Tamil script of
the 8th or 9th century A. D. (According to R. Nagaswami, in the Tamil book
titled ‘Kalvettiyal’ (கல்வெட்டியல்) published in 1972 by Tamilnadu
Archaeological Department, these inscriptions are belonging to 4th –5th
century A.D.) These inscriptions show that for about thousand years from the
3rd or 2nd century BC this cavern was a resort of Jaina ascetics.
 Stone
beds
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